| Song and Dance | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Music | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Lyrics | Don Black Richard Maltby Jr. (additional) |
| Productions | 1982West End 1983 Australia 1985Broadway 2007Israel |
Song and Dance is amusical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a unifying love story.
The "Song" act isTell Me on a Sunday, with lyrics byDon Black and music byAndrew Lloyd Webber, about a youngBritish woman's romantic misadventures inNew York City andHollywood. The "Dance" act is aballet choreographed toVariations, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for hiscellist brotherJulian, which is based on the A Minor Caprice No. 24 byPaganini.[1]
TheSong portion was written specifically forMarti Webb, and presented at theSydmonton Festival in the summer of 1979. It was subsequently recorded and aired as a one-hour television special by theBBC the following January.[2] TheDance portion was recorded in 1978, and nearly became incorporated intoCats. The opening sequence was utilized as the theme music for London Weekend Television'sSouth Bank Show.
ProducerCameron Mackintosh proposed that the two pieces be combined under the umbrella titleSong and Dance to acknowledge the primary aspect of each act, billing the piece as "a concert for the theatre".[2]
Black altered some of the songs from the original album and worked with Lloyd Webber on new material: "The Last Man in My Life", "I Love New York" and "Married Man", the latter set to the same tune as "Sheldon Bloom". A new orchestration of theVariations for a sixteen-piece theatre orchestra was produced from the original symphonic version played by theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra butHarry Rabinowitz retained the baton for the stage production. "When You Want to Fall in Love", with a tune previously released by Marti Webb andJustin Hayward as "Unexpected Song" which itself was later added to the score, was used at the climax of the dance section to meld the two halves.[2]
The musical had its world premiere on March 26, 1982 at thePalace Theatre, where it ran for 781 performances, directed byJohn Caird.[1][2]Marti Webb performed theSong half; she subsequently was succeeded in February 1983 byGemma Craven, who had performed the show for a month during Webb's holiday in August the previous year.[3][4] Craven was followed byLulu andLiz Robertson.[1] Carol Nielsson, Webb's original understudy took over the role with two hour notice when Lulu damaged her voice after a foldback monitor failed during a performance. TheDance portion was choreographed byAnthony Van Laast and featuredWayne Sleep and Jane Darling. Stewart Avon-Arnold also appeared as a contemporary dancer in the second act.
The set and lighting was designed byDavid Hersey, costumes by Robin Don, and sound by Andrew Bruce and Julian Beech.
The original recording of the London production was made live on the opening night using a recording studio then built into the Palace Theatre. The album was produced byMartin Levan, who also co-designed the sound system for the show.
Soon after the production closed, the show was filmed for a television broadcast, withSarah Brightman and Wayne Sleep in the lead roles.
The Australian production of the musical opened at theTheatre Royal inSydney on 4 August 1983. It featured Gaye MacFarlane andJohn Meehan in the leading roles.[5][6]
In anticipation of a Broadway run, director and lyricistRichard Maltby Jr. was approached to adapt the first act for anAmerican audience.[1] TheBroadway production, choreographed byPeter Martins, opened on September 18, 1985 at theRoyale Theatre conducted byJohn Mauceri, and closed on November 8, 1986, after 474 performances and seventeen previews.[2]Bernadette Peters starred inSong for nearly thirteen months; she was succeeded byBetty Buckley for the final four weeks.Dance featuredChristopher d'Amboise andGregg Burge. Amongst the many changes to the show, the characters were all given names, with 'the girl' now known as Emma.
Singer-songwriterMelissa Manchester starred in a subsequent six-month US national tour of the show in 1987, starting inDallas, Texas and ending inTampa, Florida.[7][8][9]
The Broadway production received eightTony Award nominations, with Peters winning the award for Best Actress in a Musical.[10][11]
The recording of the Broadway production, featuring Peters in the entire first act but none of the music from second act, was recorded in 1985 by RCA Victor.[12]
Song focuses on an English girl who has recently arrived in New York City. Following an argument with her boyfriend, they decide to break up. She writes to her mother in England about what happened, and that she has met a new man, Hollywood producer Sheldon Bloom, with whom she travels to California. She eventually realizes that Sheldon has only been using her as a trophy, and she ends things once and for all.
The woman returns to New York disappointed and meets a younger man who she finds more fulfilling. When he has to leave on a business trip, the woman can't bear to let him go. Her friend later comes over to tell her about the man's infidelity, and she asks him for the truth.
Depressed, the woman walks through the city streets. She meets a married man and reflects on whether their affair is wrong. The married man comes by to confess his love; however, she realizes that she has been using him. In the end she decides that it was not the end of the world to have no one.
Dance explores the story of the younger man, his various relationships and his commitment issues. At the end, the man sees the woman, and they make up, joining both at last in Song and Dance.
London
| Broadway
|
The London Cast released an album on Polydor Records. (2683087).1985 Broadway cast (Bernadette Peters) RCA Victor 68264 (Only The Songs segment. The Dance segment was not recorded)
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[13] | 92 |
Reviewing the London production, theFinancial Times theatre critic Michael Coveney claimed, "It is a long time since I have sat through a more ostentatious, less theatrically coherent evening."
InFrank Rich's review of the Broadway production forThe New York Times, he wrote: "Miss Peters is more than talented: As an actress, singer, comedienne and all-around warming presence, she has no peer in the musical theater right now. In her half ofSong & Dance, she works so hard you'd think she were pleading for mercy before a firing squad. Yet for all the vocal virtuosity, tempestuous fits and husky-toned charm she brings to her one-woman musical marathon, we never care if her character lives or dies."[14]
John Simon, inThe New York Magazine, noted that the unseen men seemed "nebulous and unreal, so too, does the seen woman", and in theDance half, "things go from bad to worse." However, he wrote that "Miss Peters is an unimpeachable peach of a performer who does so much for the top half of this double bill as to warrant its immediate rechristening 'Song of Bernadette'. She not only sings, acts, and (in the bottom half) dances to perfection, she also, superlatively, 'is' ".[15]
Original London production
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Laurence Olivier Award[16] | Outstanding Achievement in a Musical | Nominated | |
| Actress of the Year in a Musical | Marti Webb | Nominated | ||
Original Broadway production
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Drama Desk Award[17] | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Bernadette Peters | Won |
| Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Gregg Burge | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Choreography | Peter Martins | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Music | Andrew Lloyd Webber | Nominated | ||
| Grammy Award[18] | Best Musical Show Album | Nominated | ||
| Tony Award[10] | Best Musical | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical | Bernadette Peters | Won | ||
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | Christopher d'Amboise | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Score | Andrew Lloyd Webber,Don Black andRichard Maltby Jr. | Nominated | ||
| Best Costume Design | Willa Kim | Nominated | ||
| Best Lighting Design | Jules Fisher | Nominated | ||
| Best Choreography | Peter Martins | Nominated | ||
| Best Direction of a Musical | Richard Maltby Jr. | Nominated | ||
Civic Light Opera Co.: Song and Dance (starring Melissa Manchester)
